Newspaper delivery receptacles in use in rural areas usually are open ended tubular structures formed of metal or plastic. And the receptacles come in a variety of sizes and shapes to meet the requirements or the whims of the newspaper publisher.
A number of prior inventors have recognized the desirability of keeping the newspaper dry and have devised special closures for the open end of the delivery receptacle. R. A. Scheuerman discloses in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,086,674 granted Apr. 23, 1963 for "PROTECTIVE DOOR FOR CONTAINERS" a weatherproof door which is hinged to the newspaper receptacle and has flexible flap means therein through which the newspaper can be inserted. H. C. Ross in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,144,984 granted Aug. 18, 1964 for "WEATHER SHIELD FOR A NEWSPAPER BOX" discloses a snap-in-place shield with a flexible gate which must be raised to permit the paper to be placed in the receptacle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,250 granted Jan. 1, 1980 to V. N. Withrow for "NEWSPAPER TUBE CLOSURE" discloses a closure in which a spring biased inner door releases an outer closure door when the inner door is contacted by a newspaper being inserted into the receptacle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,702 granted Feb. 9, 1988 to T. B. Martin for "ONE-WAY NEWSPAPER DELIVERY RECEPTACLE" suggests placing a gravity actuated gate inside the receptacle near its open end.
All four of the closure arrangements disclosed in the patents identified in the preceding paragraph share a significant disadvantage. They were all designed and fabricated to fit a newspaper receptacle having a particular size and a particular configuration. None of these closures lend themselves to use with a variety of receptacles. Certainly, none are adaptable to both rectangular and circular cross-sectioned receptacles. And because the closures of these four patents are expensive to manufacture it is not entirely practical to fabricate a limited number for but one or two types of receptacles.
There continues to be a need for a closure for newspaper delivery receptacles which can reliably keep the newspaper dry, provide for ease of insertion and removal of the newspaper and which is readily adaptable to a variety of receptacles having different shapes and sizes.